1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a locking device for a card-type electronic device, and a connector device for a card-type electronic device, provided with the locking device.
2. Prior Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed an edge connector provided with a housing, lower contacts, upper contacts, and locking mechanisms (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H08-250238 (Paragraph numbers [0011] to [0017], and [0020], and FIG. 1).
The housing is comprised of a body extending in the left-right direction, and arm sections extending backward from the left and right ends of the body. The body is formed with a circuit board-receiving groove. In a lower surface of an upper wall of the circuit board-receiving groove, upper contact-receiving grooves extending in the front-rear direction are formed along the left-right direction at equal space intervals.
The circuit board-receiving groove has a contact-arranging surface formed at a lower portion thereof. In the contact-arranging surface, lower contact-receiving grooves extending in the front-rear direction are formed along the left-right direction at equal space intervals.
The lower contacts are held within the respective lower contact-receiving grooves. The rear ends of the lower contacts reach the inside of the circuit board-receiving groove.
The upper contacts are held within the respective upper contact-receiving grooves. The rear ends of the upper contacts are located forward with respect to the rear ends of the lower contacts.
The locking mechanisms are each comprised of a release lever configured to open in the left-right direction with respect to the arm section, and a locking section configured to open in the left-right direction in unison with the release lever. The locking section is generally hook-shaped.
To connect a memory module, which is a card-type electronic device, to the connector, first, one end of the memory module is inserted into the connector at a predetermined insertion angle. At this time, pads formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the one end of the memory module are disposed between the lower contacts and the upper contacts.
Then, the memory module is pivotally moved about the one end thereof such that the insertion angle is made smaller. At this time, the one end of the memory module urges the lower contacts and the upper contacts such that the distance between the lower contacts and the upper contacts is widened. Further, the locking section of the locking mechanisms are pressed by associated side surfaces of the memory module, whereby the release levers are bent in directions away from the memory module.
After that, when the memory module is pivotally moved until the insertion angle becomes approximately equal to 0°, the lower contacts and the upper contacts caused to undergo elastic deformation by the one end of the memory module are brought into pressure contact with the pads formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the one end of the memory module, to be electrically connected thereto, respectively. Further, when the memory module is pivotally moved until the insertion angle becomes approximately equal to 0°, the side surfaces of the memory module pass the associated locking sections, and the locking sections are returned to their original positions for engagement with the upper surface of the memory module. As a consequence, the pivotal motion of the memory module in a direction of increasing the insertion angle is blocked, whereby the memory module is held in the state electrically connected to the connector.
To release the locked state of the memory module, first, the release levers are pushed in the direction away from the memory module to thereby remove the locking sections from the upper surface of the memory module.
Then, the memory module is pivotally moved through the predetermined insertion angle. At this time, the memory module is pivotally moved by the spring forces of the lower contacts and the upper contacts.
Finally, when the memory module is pivotally moved through the predetermined insertion angle, it is only required to draw out the memory module from the connector.
In the above-described connector, the memory module is locked by locking the upper surface of the memory module by the generally hook-shaped locking sections, and therefore when the memory module is attempted to be pivotally moved by a wrong operation without unlocking the same, or when an external force for pivotally moving the memory module is applied to the memory module, there are possibilities of the memory module being unlocked and the locking mechanism being broken.